VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

[KAT4DISNEY]

Fellow Groupies and others who might be lurking, I need some advice. We are VWL hard core, through and through. I convinced DW and DD to spend two nights in a 1BR at AKL (needed to use points or lose them). Their opinion was "meh. It is nice but is ain't the Lodge." We have not stayed at any other DVC resort.

So now I am inside the 11 month window for our June trip. Rooms are available now at VWL for next June. Shocking, I know. I am of the persuasion that this might the perfect reason (construction) to book at the Poly or GF. Thus, this is my question...... if I wait until November to book for June, what is the likelihood that studio(s) will be available at either location? If I wait until then and strike out, and then there are no rooms at VWL, well I will have a lot of splaining to do. What are your thoughts? Thanks for your input.

greg

Depending on how the sales at Poly are going I think it's very likely there will be availability there - even if they keep up a steady sales pace. VGF is a lot little less likely but one never knows. As Granny mentioned the key is to have your VWL room and then just move the reservation and that way you have nothing to talk about with the family on why there's no room.

 

[Nanajo1]

Hello,

I signed a contract for VWL after 5 years of thinking about it. I should have points right around the 7 months mark before our June trip. We have a family trip planned for Dec. 2016. If I reserve a 2 bedroom in January for next December and it is unknown who is going, would you suggest I get a 2 bedroom lock off? Are you able to alter the reservation later and just have the 1 bedroom or the studio? If so, how close to the reservation can you make these changes? We have December u/y. Thanks I am VERY new to this... 24 hours in fact!

I believe to change a 2 BR dedicated to a 1 BR you would have to cancel the ressie and rebook within 31 days to have points returned to same UY. You may be able to cancel the studio portion from a lock off. I am sure some one chime in soon.
Welcome Home!

 

[sleepydog25]

I'm with Granny and KAT regarding booking VWL first to have a place to stay, then seeing what is available at the 7 month point. If nothing is available then, you can put in two waitlists and hope one of them comes through. I've not stayed at all the resorts, but have done most, and I will add we've enjoyed our stay at each. AKV is very reminiscent of the Lodge, not surprisingly given the same architect designed both, and both Sanna (Kidani) and Jiko (Jambo) are excellent restaurants. Boma is fairly good, as well. VGF has gotten tougher to snag at 7 months, but we did it and thoroughly enjoyed the experience (minus the inadequate storage)--on the monorail, close to Poly, and surrounded by good restaurants. BLT is superb in its location and convenience, and while the modern feel isn't my cup o' tea, the proximity to MK and view of Wishes from a few different places makes it a good choice. Neither BCV or BWV appeal to me on a theming or furnishings level (even updated, I doubt they will), but there's no denying the convenience of walking to Epcot or even DHS, and SAB (BCV) is one amazing pool. All in all, if you have a place to lay your head at night and it belongs to DVC, chances are you'll find things to love. Good luck!

 

[ottawagreg]

Thanks Granny, Kathy, and Sleepy. I figured my best play was to go ahead and book at VWL. However I thought that once you reserved at a resort the points were "spent". I assumed you you could move dates around if one needed to, but it would be at the same resort. So if I cancel, the points are restore to the contract and then make a new reservation at different local. Interesting. Thanks for the advice. We have never done anything but reserve and then fly. My daughter does not to stay anywhere but the Lodge. It is hard to argue for another resort, but I would like to try others. We did not really like the split stay thing. So it has always been the Lodge or bust.

 

[wildernessDad]

Hello,

I signed a contract for VWL after 5 years of thinking about it. I should have points right around the 7 months mark before our June trip. We have a family trip planned for Dec. 2016. If I reserve a 2 bedroom in January for next December and it is unknown who is going, would you suggest I get a 2 bedroom lock off? Are you able to alter the reservation later and just have the 1 bedroom or the studio? If so, how close to the reservation can you make these changes? We have December u/y. Thanks I am VERY new to this... 24 hours in fact!

The only alterations you can make to your exiting reservation is adding a day onto the end and/or canceling a day at the beginning, if something is available that is. But you cannot change it out to a 1 br or studio unless of course, those are available. Those would be new reservations. And for December, the studios go very fast, and the 2 br villas follow quickly. You might have a bit of success on a 1 br, but if you wait too long, they will be gone too. And by too long, maybe sometime into February to book. Maybe. They may go sooner. My advice is to make your December reservation exactly at the 11-month point and do not give it up. Remember that there will be construction going on at WL.

 

[wildernessDad]

Fellow Groupies and others who might be lurking, I need some advice. We are VWL hard core, through and through. I convinced DW and DD to spend two nights in a 1BR at AKL (needed to use points or lose them). Their opinion was "meh. It is nice but is ain't the Lodge." We have not stayed at any other DVC resort.

So now I am inside the 11 month window for our June trip. Rooms are available now at VWL for next June. Shocking, I know. I am of the persuasion that this might the perfect reason (construction) to book at the Poly or GF. Thus, this is my question...... if I wait until November to book for June, what is the likelihood that studio(s) will be available at either location? If I wait until then and strike out, and then there are no rooms at VWL, well I will have a lot of splaining to do. What are your thoughts? Thanks for your input.

greg

Tell them that AKL was designed by the same architect that designed WL, Peter Dominick. He died of a heart attack during cross-country skiing. He was a great American architect. He also designed the Grand Californian Resort.

http://www.westword.com/news/architect-peter-dominick-dead-at-67-5855487

 

[Granny]

Thanks Granny, Kathy, and Sleepy. I figured my best play was to go ahead and book at VWL. However I thought that once you reserved at a resort the points were "spent". I assumed you you could move dates around if one needed to, but it would be at the same resort. So if I cancel, the points are restore to the contract and then make a new reservation at different local. Interesting. Thanks for the advice.

Yes, the points go back to your contract and then you can make a new reservation at a different DVC resort. Actually, it is exactly the same process if you are moving dates at the original resort. Any change to the timing of a reservation is a cancellation and re-booking unless you are just adding a day or dropping one...for those changes you need to call MS to make sure an additional day is linked to your original reservation. In full disclosure, there is still a very small chance that you can be left holding the bag. A resort can show availability and when you cancel your first reservation (to get the points back) and then go to make your new reservation a few seconds later, there is the outside chance that someone else grabbed the new reservation in that time period. It is very rare, but it can certainly happen so you need to move as quickly as possible when cancelling and rebooking.

We have never done anything but reserve and then fly. My daughter does not to stay anywhere but the Lodge. It is hard to argue for another resort, but I would like to try others. We did not really like the split stay thing. So it has always been the Lodge or bust.

I agree with the split stay avoidance in general. But I would rather stay at my least favorite DVC resort than "bust" a trip to WDW.

 

[Corinne]

Tell them that AKL was designed by the same architect that designed WL, Peter Dominick. He died of a heart attack during cross-country skiing. He was a great American architect. He also designed the Grand Californian Resort.

http://www.westword.com/news/architect-peter-dominick-dead-at-67-5855487

While I actually was surprised at how much I enjoyed my two stays at the AKL, it's just not the WL. Just sayin'

 

[wildernessDad]

CodeSpyder has asked me to do his bidding again. His request is for Aulani Resort pictures, ones that you allow him to use in his apps. This is not a plug for the apps, only a request for pictures. Please email codespyder@webspydercode.com. Thank you.

 

[Dizny Dad]

So the call came in . .whew . .a tense wait for DiznyDi. For a couple of weeks . . did we miss the call? . . . .are they going to call? . . . . did they forget about us? . . . are we part of the group selected to not call? . . .and the speculation went on. So the call finally came. We choose to stay at The Lodge (of course). With 69 sleeps to go until the Oct. trip, DiznyDi can now sleep during those sleeps. And if curious, nothing was offered out of the ordinary stuff that the thread has already mentioned. But none the less we are staying . . neither barricades, nor noise, nor a longer walk to the boat dock could detour us from our appointed villa; plus the Inglenook is a nice place for a rest at Christmas time.

 

[Kathymford]

@ottawagreg For what it's worth, Poly was available right at 7 months for marathon weekend (January), but booked up pretty quickly. I could have gotten it right at the opening bell. I made the rookie mistake (still making those 5 years in!) of not booking WL at 11 months for W&D last year and at the 7 month mark almost had nowhere to stay. I HAD to get a 1 bd at OKW instead. Yikes. Nice stay, but a lot of points and space for just two adults.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks Granny, Kathy, and Sleepy. I figured my best play was to go ahead and book at VWL. However I thought that once you reserved at a resort the points were "spent". I assumed you you could move dates around if one needed to, but it would be at the same resort. So if I cancel, the points are restore to the contract and then make a new reservation at different local. Interesting. Thanks for the advice. We have never done anything but reserve and then fly. My daughter does not to stay anywhere but the Lodge. It is hard to argue for another resort, but I would like to try others. We did not really like the split stay thing. So it has always been the Lodge or bust.

A point is never actually "spent" until you do the stay that it is reserving. I don't know if this is the best analogy but when you make a reservation it's in the "reserved to be used" pool and then when you start your stay it's in the "used/being used" pool. Cancellations never restrict points to a particular resort and even if you cancelled at 30 days or less and they went into holding you could still use them at any DVC resort with availability. If you cancel more 31 days or more in advance then they are just put back into your contract as if you never did anything with them and then all you have to be concerned about is where you are in your banking window and if you can use them before the end of your UY or bank them if that's what you'd prefer. Now if you book something other than a DVC resort there's a few other things to cancelling but if booking DVC only it's really very flexible IMO.

 

[eliza61]

Happy Tuesday Groupies. ***sighs*** 21 more days. finally got a break at work. So I work for Dupont and DuPont is a very old company (they supplied the gun powder during the American revolution. unfortunately they supplied it to both the colonist and the British. talk about hedging your bets) , unfortunately lol we work in some of the original buildings and they are finally crumbling so not only have we had to do our daily work, we are trying to move.
whether it's your home or your office moving is a pain.

We've got a two-fer for trivia. actually three if you count the little american revolution bit.

Tuesday August 4th 1988, Mickey's Birthdayland opened. Guests were able to tour the town of "Duckburg" (taken from the "Duck tales" TV show), where Mickey's house was located. Much different from Mickey's house in the park today. The town with a population of "bill'ions and still growing" was complete with pint-sized storefront facades, such as "Duckburg News", D. Duck's candy store and the "S.S. Donald Duck"

The water jets in Catastrophe Canyon in the Studio's Backlot Tour, shoot out enough water to fill ten Olympic-size swimming pools in just a few seconds.

 

[Granny]

The water jets in Catastrophe Canyon in the Studio's Backlot Tour, shoot out enough water to fill ten Olympic-size swimming pools in just a few seconds.

Well, at least they used to. With Disney closing Backlot Tour and American Idol, we find that there just isn't a lot to do at DHS anymore. Still has some of the old stand-bys, but at that park it seems they have shut down more than they've added in the past couple of years. That's not even including the space that used to house "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that they've had "space under construction" for a few years now.

Sorry to be bumming...it's just that with the big investments in MK and DAK it would be nice if they gave DHS some more attractions.

I do like the American Revolution trivia...didn't know DuPont was such a savvy supplier!

 

[Kathymford]

Well, at least they used to. With Disney closing Backlot Tour and American Idol, we find that there just isn't a lot to do at DHS anymore. Still has some of the old stand-bys, but at that park it seems they have shut down more than they've added in the past couple of years. That's not even including the space that used to house "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that they've had "space under construction" for a few years now.

Sorry to be bumming...it's just that with the big investments in MK and DAK it would be nice if they gave DHS some more attractions.

I do like the American Revolution trivia...didn't know DuPont was such a savvy supplier!

I know they haven't officially said anything, but I'm pretty sure all the current closures are for a major investment/expansion. Lots of rumors of exactly what that will be!! For us, DHS has always been a half day park (if that), so it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[ottawagreg]

A point is never actually "spent" until you do the stay that it is reserving. I don't know if this is the best analogy but when you make a reservation it's in the "reserved to be used" pool and then when you start your stay it's in the "used/being used" pool.

Thanks very much Kat, WildernessDad, Kathy M, and Granny. I do appreciate all the good input. On Sunday morning I tried to make my move. I needed to bank points from this year into next year before I could pull the pin on the reservation. I had loads of trouble doing the transaction on the DVC member site. It kept crashing or timing out. Later while I was in church I received email that said the transaction was confirmed. Afterwards I was not able to even login to the site all afternoon. Right before I went to bed I tried again and the web page loaded perfectly. I made the ressie slick and clean. It seems that there is always issues over there whenever I try to use the site. I don't have a lot of experience with DVC Members as I typically pick my dates and reserve, then I am out of there. I have never banked, borrowed or transferred points before. So now I know. Again thanks to everyone for your help.

BTW...it is really nice being at the Lodge. I booked ten nights at VWL for fewer points then we could stay at Poly or GF for seven nights. So seven nights at Grand Floridian (Red Roof Inn), or ten nights at VWL. Hmmm... what would you do? THE LODGE!! We will just have to get thru next year as best we can with all the dust and plywood walls. But if it is really bad this December I will try and see what is available. The others are quite nice, that is for sure.

 

[ottawagreg]

So I work for Dupont and DuPont is a very old company (they supplied the gun powder during the American revolution. unfortunately they supplied it to both the colonist and the British. talk about hedging your bets) , unfortunately lol we work in some of the original buildings and they are finally crumbling so not only have we had to do our daily work,

That is really cool. The buildings are about 250 years old? That is crazy, how is the air conditioning there? Leave it to the french guy to play both ends of a war. They could not decide whom to back in the civil war until that one was decided. I think Sherman was marching to the sea when they finally showed up. Well the good news is you will be in a brand new office.

 

[npcougar]

Well, some disappointing news today. It had been two weeks since our call about the construction. Neither the Disney nor the DVC showed any changes. I called the 407 number today that we were given and they had no record of our change. They had us down for some extra fast passes but no resort change. I was told to contact member services.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well, at least they used to. With Disney closing Backlot Tour and American Idol, we find that there just isn't a lot to do at DHS anymore. Still has some of the old stand-bys, but at that park it seems they have shut down more than they've added in the past couple of years. That's not even including the space that used to house "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that they've had "space under construction" for a few years now.

Sorry to be bumming...it's just that with the big investments in MK and DAK it would be nice if they gave DHS some more attractions.

Agreed Granny! Seems like all the news from DHS is closing this and closing that. Don't forget the Animation Academy that is now closed and the most recent rumors are that around the end of Sept Little Mermaid and One Man's Dream will close. It absolutely has to be plans for a big re-design but some of these have been closed for many months or even a year and no ground broke and not even a firm announcement of what is to come. I'm sure one of the announcements coming is that tickets are discounted 30% because 30% of the park is closed.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well, some disappointing news today. It had been two weeks since our call about the construction. Neither the Disney nor the DVC showed any changes. I called the 407 number today that we were given and they had no record of our change. They had us down for some extra fast passes but no resort change. I was told to contact member services.

Ah, that's no good! Hope you have some better luck with MS or you might try back with the 407 number and speak to someone else.